A look at where people can get vaccinated

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) - With two million more Wisconsinites eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine March 22, many will be going online trying to schedule their appointment.

There are many places people can go to get vaccinated but some have more stringent eligibility criteria than the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). Stricter standards may be needed with so many people who will soon be eligible.

Both DHS and the Eau Claire City-County Health Department have websites with interactive displays where people can find vaccinators.

One local vaccinator, Prevea Health, is already letting people in Category 1C schedule their appointments according to President and CEO Ashok Rai.

“The less of a guardrail that we have on people getting vaccinated the more we can just get through the sites. Now, we still have to be patient,” he said.

Rai said there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done but he’s hopeful there will be enough vaccine supply to get people vaccinated quickly.

People can sign up for their shot at Prevea Health using the My Prevea app.

Marshfield Clinic said it’s still focusing on vaccinating its priority groups.

Mayo Clinic Health System said it’ll email its patients when they’re ready for their shot. People who aren’t Mayo Clinic patients can sign up on the hospital’s website by filling out an intake form.

Local vaccine providers are also starting to give Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccines in addition to the the two-dose series Pfizer and Moderna shots.

Though the Johnson & Johnson vaccine isn’t quite as effective as the two-dose shots, it still prevents severe disease and death.

“It’s a lot easier from a scheduling standpoint, from an operations standpoint to work with a single shot,” Rai said. “But all three are effective vaccines. All three are safe vaccines. The best one to get is the one you can get.”

People will get vaccinated for free regardless of whether they have health insurance. The federal government has a program reimbursing providers for vaccinating uninsured patients.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has a post-vaccination monitoring program called V-Safe. It monitors potential vaccine side-effects. People find out how to sign up for V-Safe when they are vaccinated.

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